Frank Lloyd Wright once said that “television is chewing gum for the eyes.” However, after having enjoyed more than a few sunny afternoons watching the Chicago Cubs play baseball in storied Wrigley Field (a building named after a company built on chewing gum), it occurs to me: Chewing gum can be good business.
And, of course, so can television. That's not news. The medium has usurped market share from a huge variety of other sources of news and entertainment for decades, facing its most recent and, to date, most serious competition from the internet. So... consider the value in providing both forms of information and entertainment simultaneously... Cable companies do this. Telcos do this.
It's the latter we focus on in this issue as we take a look at the state of telco-based TV offerings. It has been an expensive proposition to make IPTV and other telco-based services a viable reality, but carriers around the globe have done just that.
In this issue, we'll hear from CSPs like FiOS heavyweight Verizon to the much smaller (but equally innovative) SureWest Communications. We'll also hear from Amdocs
Pipeline
Publishing, Volume 6, Issue 1
on tru2way and the customer experience. In addition, we've got some thoughts on last month's TM Forum Management World, including some comments from LTC, International's Trevor Hayes on collaborative services that were inspired by some of the ideas exchanged at the event. We'll also bring you Ed Finegold’s point of view on what mobile providers look for in a customer, and some ideas from the CTO of Polaris Wireless on location services. And, as usual, we'll bring you the latest news analysis, as we strive to continue to be Your OSS/BSS Information Source.
